A conventional system or device for displaying an image, such as a display, projector, or other imaging system, produces a displayed image by addressing an array of individual picture elements or pixels arranged in horizontal rows and vertical columns. A resolution of the displayed image is defined as the number of horizontal rows and vertical columns of individual pixels forming the displayed image. The resolution of the displayed image is affected by a resolution of the display device itself as well as a resolution of the image data processed by the display device and used to produce the displayed image.
Often, the resolution of the image data and the resolution of the display device differ. More specifically, an aspect ratio, defined as the ratio of image width to image height, of the image data may differ from an aspect ratio of the display device. For example, the image data may be high definition image data having a 16:9 aspect ratio while the display device may have a conventional 4:3 aspect ratio. Conversely, the image data may have a conventional 4:3 aspect ratio while the display device has an enhanced 16:9 aspect ratio. Regardless, the image data and the display device have differing aspect ratios, thereby limiting display of the image data on the display device.
Conventional techniques for accommodating differing formats of image data and a display device use, for example, sampling or scaling of the image data so that the image fills the display device in at least one dimension. These techniques, however, produce an image which underfills the display device in an orthogonal dimension thereby resulting in blank spaces above and below or to the left and the right of the image. Thus, a resolution of the image is reduced. In addition, sampling or scaling of the image data may result in an image which appears compressed or stretched in one dimension.
Accordingly, it is desired to accommodate the display of an image having one aspect ratio with a display device having another aspect ratio.